Margazhi, which refers to a particular festive period during winter months in Chennai and even finds mention in the Hindu mythology, returned in 2017 after a hiatus of two difficult years, writes Kumar Chellappan
Every October, New York-based Ramnath Narayanan, rings up this writer asking to reserve tickets for the month-long Margazhi Festival in Chennai. The Tamil month of Margazhi, which commencing mid-December and ends by mid-January, is the best time of the year in Chennai. Weather in the metropolis is fantabulous and the atmosphere resonates with bhakti (devotion) and music. Although Chennaites were robbed off the beauty of the last two Margazhis (2015 due to the Chennai floods and 2016 due to the demise of Jayalalithaa), the 2017 Margazhi month more than compensated for it.
“Among the 12 months, I am Margazhi,” lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (verse 35, chapter 10). The month ushers the season of spring. The Dravidian land observes Aryan’s Margazhi with bhakti and music. The month-long Margazhi Festival held every year in Chennai has turned out to be one of the biggest festivals of its kind celebrated anywhere in the world. Hundreds of musicians, dancers and danseuses fly down to Chennai from all over the world to show their talents, prowess and mastery over music and dance. Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam are the major events which are held in nearly 300 sabhas (auditoriums) spread out in the metropolis. Not only Sabhas, some of the ancient houses and temples serve as venues for music concerts.
“The Margazhi Festival is your gateway to stardom. It is the yardstick to one’s graduation into the big league of dance and music. The audience is unique because majority of them are connoisseurs of music and dance,” said N Kalyanasundaram chronicler of modern Tamil Nadu, himself an ardent lover of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam. The jet-setting septuagenarian ensures that he does not have any travel engagements in the month of December. From morning till night he and Jaya, his better-half, hop from one Sabha to another in their battered Maruti 800 to cherish the mystical notes of Carnatic music and graceful steps of Bharatanatyam.
Chennai is home to some of the living legends of these art forms. Padma Subramanian, Chitra Visweswaran, Sudharani Raghupati — who are the titans of Bharatanatyam — are the ever green stars of Margazhi Dance Festival. A sold out crowd at Krishna Gana Sabha was mesmerized by the splendid performance of Dr Subramaniam in the last week of December. Nobody could believe the fact that she is nearing 74. “When she is on the stage performing to the tune of the mellifluous music, the audience could experience poetry in motion,” said Mankombu Gopalakrishnan, writer, lyricist and a Bharatanatyam aficionado. .
These queens of Bharatanatyam perform with élan and composure the classic and complex literary works (kritis) set to tunes by sages like Saint Thygaraja, Muthuswamy Deekshithar. Their bhava (expressions) varies in sync with the lyrics as audience are elevated to a different world light years away from the present.
What was started as a week-long dance and music festival in 1927 to mark the launching of Madras Music Academy has emerged as an iconic month long extravaganza of dance and music with special emphasis on Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, the symbol of Tamil identity. Please do not be under the impression that the 30-day-long festival is confined to just music concerts and dance performances. The evenings may be for concerts and dance presentations. Dancers, danseuses, musicians and critics hold lecture-cum-demonstrations about new findings and new gharanas in these art forms. Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam are described as unfathomable oceans of art!
Each Margazhi brings with it a galaxy of youngsters who could be described as the future masters. Musicians like Nithyasree Mahadevan, Sowmya, Bombay Jayashree, Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subramanian, P Unnikrishnan, and a host of musicians like them owe it to the Margazhi Festival which played a significant role in their graduation into the top league of music. Same is the case with dancers and danseuses.
Among the new comers, Shreya Iyer from San Jose in USA could be ranked as one of the top performers of the 2017 Margazhi Festival. She gave three scintillating performances during the 2017 Margazhi Festival at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Krishna Gana Sabha and Bharat Kalachar which left the audience spellbound. The fact that she was commissioned to perform at three Sabhas in a single season speaks volumes about her repertoire and versatility. Daughter of eminent danseuse Sugandha Sreenath, Shreya has been a Bharatanatyam student trained and taught by her mother. She had a sojourn with the legendary Dhananjayan and Santha Dhananjayan of Chennai’s Kalakshetra to chisel up her talents and prowess.
Shreya, a marketing professional with an IT giant in the US gave up the job to take up dancing seriously. “It’s there in my genes. There is an umbilical cord between me and Bharatanatyam,” said the US-born Shreya who has become a trailblazer in Chennai with this year’s solos.
“Bharatanatyam was what kept me connected to my culture and roots. As I was growing up I found that dancing was an outlet for me to pursue my passion,” she said after her performance at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. She was all praise for the Margazhi Festival. “The audience is fantastic. Though most of the times it is difficult to see their expressions because of the lighting in the auditorium, I was spellbound by their reactions during one of my performances. I could watch the audience who were moved by one of the recitations Aasai Mugam (the face one loves). The heroine was trying to recall the loved one’s face but was not able to remember the same. While I was leaving the state after the item, I could see tears in the eyes of some of the audiences. It was quite a moving experience,” said Shreya.
Dhananjayan, who watched Shreya in action sounded quite happy about her performance. “She is dedicated to Bharatanatyam and has good potential. She is endowed with all the qualities for a Bharatanatyam performer,” Dhananjayan said during a tête-à-tête with The Pioneer.
Margazhi is the only time of the year when Chennai, known for its orthodox and conservative ambience, comes alive as the glitterati in the metro rush from one auditorium to another to cherish and devour the performances of their favourite artists. They (the artists and the audience) select the attire for the event well in advance. The Margazhi season is the only time in the city where the high and mighty could display their pashmina shawls, latest Kanchipuram collection as well as the ultra-modern jewellery. “When you book the seats, ensure that there are no pillars between us and the stage,” reminds Ramnath Narayanan. An outing with him for a concert ends with sumptuous meal either at Murugan idlis or Saravana Bhavan!
The month-long festival has turn out to be an industry in Chennai. All the hotels in the city get booked well in advance. It is music, dance, discussions and food. All the sabhas set up food courts where one can have the best of South Indian gourmets. “You can enjoy the raagas even while you devour the dosas, idlis, and vadas,” said Dr Abdul Rehman, an Australian physician who never misses the Margazhi Festival. The septuagenarian is a Carnatic music aficionado who enjoys the hot idlis and coffee served in the food courts.
More than 3,000 artists and nearly 400 performances is what the festival offers the Chennai audiences. “Now we have lecture-cum-demonstrations also. Veteran musicians and dancers share with the new generation artists and audience the innovations and hitherto unexplored hemispheres in music and dance,” said Dhananjayan. But he was highly critical of the crash commercialisation of the festival.
“Earlier, it used to be perform and get paid in the Margazhi Festival. Now it is pay and perform where the artists, mainly the Non-Resident Indian ones, make payment to the sabhas so that they get prime stages. This has dampened the spirits of the local talents for which there are no dearth,” said the maestro.
Yes, there are issues in hosting such a mega event which attracts performers from India and abroad. Most of them land in Chennai with hopes of stardom in their hearts. But without these irritants, what will be an event like this one look likeIJ
“Spectators are keen to know more about dance and music than simply watch a performance, a development that has given rise to lecture-demonstrations, panel discussions, and annual con-fests like the Natya Kala Conference and Natya Darshan in Chennai,” said S Janaki, cultural critic.
Dr S Kalyanaraman, director, Saraswathi Research Centre, Chennai, a leading Indologist is of the view that the ever growing popularity of Margazhi Festival is a positive sign. “It shows there has been a renaissance in the field of Indian dance and music despite the onslaught from western culture. What was started as a three day event in 1927 has emerged as the biggest cultural extravaganza with people demanding more and more dances and concerts every year,” said Kalyanaraman.
This edition of the Margazhi Festival also saw two innovations which excited the audience. Sree Krishna, a synchronised dance drama staged by Krishnanjali Academy featured more than a dozen artistes who offered a visual treat by presenting Vishnu Sahasranama (based on hymns elected from the Anushasana Parva of Mahabharata) and the scene where a distressed Bhishma is lying
on the bed of arrows anticipating his death. “The programme is based on the life of lord Krishna and the lyrics were from Narayaneeyam,” said Balagurunathan, who choreographed the show. “It was a dazzling show, a new experience to me,” said Venkita Krshnan, who has never missed a single festival during the past 40 years.
Hari Smaranam, (meditating over lord Krishna), was yet another spectacle choreographed by Dhakshayani Ramachandran and was brought alive on the stage by 17 youngsters. Both dance programmes had music, dance and action galore in them which left the audience amazed.
Why this passion for Margazhi FestivalIJ “If you are in Chennai and not attending the Margazhi Festival, it is like a man living in Benares saying he has not bathed in the Ganges,” said Kalyanasundaram.
There is no Chennai without Margazhi Festival. It is the soul of the metropolis. The Margazhi Festival comes to an end by Pongal Festival. It is time for Jallikattu, the bull taming sport of rural Tamil Nadu. The santham (tranquillity), karunyam (serenity, pathos), and divinity associated with music and dance give way to roudram (anger), bheebhalsam (odious) and uncertainty. But as the philosophers say, this will also pass. We will wait for Margazhi 2018.